If you missed our recent Town Hall, I want to share what we covered\u2014what we accomplished together this year, what\u2019s coming in 2026, and some lessons we\u2019ve learned along the way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What Happened in 2025<\/strong><\/h2>\nWe started the year with KCU Pitchfest 2025<\/a>, and I\u2019m so happy to share some good news about it: several of our winners got literary agents and are on their way to book deals!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n- Sarah Thomas<\/a> and Tzook Har Paz<\/a> (who designed our first-ever Pitchfest poster for 2026) signed with Alice Sutherland-Hawes of Ash Literary<\/li>\n
- Maria Goltseva<\/a> signed with Jen Azantian of Azantian Literary<\/li>\n
- Ally Frame<\/a> signed with Jessica Saint Jean at Root Literary<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"KCU](\"https:\/\/kidscomicsunite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/kcu-pitchfest-2025-signed-by-agent-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nThere might be others I don\u2019t know about yet (if you were a Pitchfest participant and have good news to share, please post in the comments!).<\/p>\n
\nIn April, we launched our first-ever Kickstarter, for our first-ever KCU anthology, Let\u2019s Go!<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe anthology included 22 stories by 31 different contributors<\/a>, and a total of 34 people from our Studio program worked on the project. We divided into 4 teams to produce the book: a publication team, editorial team, marketing team, and design team. It took us a year and 10 months to bring it to life. Yes, it was like herding cats, but we did it. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\nOur Kickstarter<\/a> was a big success \u2014 we were funded overnight and almost tripled our goal\u2014which was very, very exciting. As of this fall, we\u2019ve shipped Let\u2019s Go<\/em> to our Kickstarter backers. It\u2019s also available on Amazon now<\/a> (hopefully on Bookshop.org soon). If you got a copy and want to leave us a review, that would be amazing!<\/p>\n![\"Let's](\"https:\/\/kidscomicsunite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/lets-go-books-731x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n
\nIn June, the KCU team\u2014me, Bailey, Lisa, and Jade\u2014had a retreat in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The four of us had never been together in person, so staying in an Airbnb for two nights together was such a blast.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was actually during that retreat, sitting around in the living room and discussing our plans for the fall, that Bailey suggested I teach a course on \u201chow to launch a graphic novel.\u201d As soon as she said it, I was on board with the idea.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"How](\"https:\/\/kidscomicsunite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-07-at-6.49.46-AM-1024x544.png\")
<\/figure>\nDeadlines are great, right? I knew right away that if I say I\u2019m going to teach a course, I will be forced to organize my ideas and put them into a coherent framework.\u00a0Being forced to organize your ideas is always a good thing. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n
We ended up with about 40 wonderful students in the course. Here are a few things students said about it:<\/p>\n
\n- \u201cEven if you know what you need to do, this course will get you to do it sooner and with more support, organization and resources!\u201d \u2013 Michelle Lin<\/a><\/li>\n
- \u201cI gained a ton of helpful knowledge and advice. But better yet, I gained new friends to continue this journey together with me.\u201d \u2013 Joy Liu<\/a><\/li>\n
- \u201c[This course] makes marketing seem less like a chore than an opportunity to do what you already like to do \u2014 make stuff and tell stories.\u201d \u2013 Andy Hirsch<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Hooray!! <\/p>\n
And finally, throughout the year in our Studio program, we had amazing guests come talk to us: Chris Duffy, Kazu Kibuishi, Colleen Venable, James Powell, Joe Latham, John Hendrix, Britt Siess, Robyn Chapman, Mika Song, C\u00e9sar Lador, and so many others. It was a jam-packed year, and I\u2019m grateful to everyone who shared their time and expertise with us.<\/p>\n
Celebrating Our Community<\/strong><\/h2>\nBefore we dive into what\u2019s next, I want to give some shoutouts. We\u2019ve never done member awards before, but this felt like the right time to start.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kidscomicsunite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2025-kcu-member-awards-1024x451.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nMember of the Year<\/strong> goes to Roger McMullen<\/a>. Roger is always in the community answering people\u2019s questions, sharing great resources and articles, and offering his own perspective. I always read Roger\u2019s comments because he has such interesting things to say. He\u2019s also the founder of our Zine Club group<\/a>, and converted many of us (including me!) into zine fanatics.<\/p>\nThe<\/strong> Put Yourself Out There Award<\/strong> goes to Bob Thibeault<\/a>, who tried some really new things this year. After being a part of the Let\u2019s Go!<\/em> anthology, he did his first solo Kickstarter campaign, and he\u2019s been a role model for all of us in terms of stepping outside your comfort zone.<\/p>\nThe<\/strong> Quiet Hero Award<\/strong> goes to Teresa Robeson<\/a>. Even though she\u2019s a self-proclaimed \u201cshy human,\u201d she is always welcoming new members and cheering people on. Plus, Teresa can raise chickens and can food and survive on the land\u2014when the zombie apocalypse happens, Teresa is the KCU member we\u2019ll turn to.<\/p>\nAt our June retreat, I recognized the KCU team with awards, too, but I want to share them publicly now with everyone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The<\/strong> Quiet Hero 2 Award<\/strong> goes to Lisa Lowry<\/a>, who helps us stay true to our values and works behind the scenes to make sure all the little details get done. If it weren\u2019t for Lisa, everything would fall apart.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe North Star Award<\/strong> goes to Jade Vaughan<\/a>, whose artistry, soulfulness, and sense of humor is a beacon of light to me and I hope to many of you.\u00a0<\/p>\nAnd the Kicking Butt Award<\/strong> goes to Bailey Culver<\/a>, who brought 1000% more energy and enthusiasm to our team and completely transformed our social media presence.<\/p>\nI also want to give a shoutout to every single person who\u2019s contributed to our community \u2014 we would not be where we are today without you.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s Coming in 2026<\/strong><\/h2>\nNow let\u2019s talk about what we have planned for next year. It\u2019s going to rock, guys.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"KCU](\"https:\/\/kidscomicsunite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/KCU_Pitchfest_Poster_COLOR-791x1024.jpeg\")
Thank you to Tzook Har-Paz and Sarah Thomas for creating our first-ever KCU Pitchfest custom poster!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nKCU<\/strong> Pitchfest<\/strong><\/a> is coming back!<\/strong> Submissions will open from February 12th to February 23rd. We have about 13 judges confirmed so far, and we\u2019ll announce the full jury in the second half of January. Many of the agents and editors on our jury will be offering one-on-one pitch review sessions again. The Pitchfest celebration event, announcement of winners, and one-on-one pitch reviews will be on April 25th, 2026. Mark your calendar with those dates!<\/p>\nWe\u2019re going to table at conventions<\/strong>. We\u2019re upping our game and getting out into the community, not only to share what KCU does, but also to sell the Let\u2019s Go!<\/em><\/strong> anthology. We\u2019ve been accepted for MoCCA already \u2014 hooray! I\u2019m also going to the Bologna Book Fair, where I\u2019ll be representing both my agency and KCU. We\u2019re thinking about exhibiting at ALA in June and SPX in September. Whatever shows we end up at, we\u2019ll be inviting KCU members to come visit us, and if you were a Let\u2019s Go!<\/em><\/strong> contributor and want to be at our booth for an hour or so, we\u2019ll have signup sheets.<\/p>\nDuring the summer, we\u2019re going to offer a graphic novel bootcamp<\/strong>. We don\u2019t have all the details finalized yet, but it will likely be a 3-month course with a finished product that comes out of it. We\u2019re working hard behind the scenes to pull it together. I am very<\/em> excited about it, and can\u2019t wait to share more details soon.<\/p>\nIn the fall, I\u2019m teaching How to Launch Your Graphic Novel<\/a> again<\/strong>. Everyone who was a student this year\u2014thank you for being my guinea pigs! I absolutely loved teaching this course and can\u2019t wait to meet a new cohort of students next year.<\/p>\nWe\u2019ll continue offering occasional live online events.<\/strong> Bailey and Alondra are continuing the co-working sessions on Mondays<\/a>, and we might start another co-working session at a different time. We\u2019ll definitely be doing socials and meetups, both online and in person at conventions. Feedback with a Pro was very popular, and we\u2019ll bring that back\u2014it\u2019ll be free for anyone to attend, but if you want to have your work critiqued by the guest agent or editor, you\u2019ll pay for that critique. We\u2019ll sprinkle some workshops and masterclasses throughout the year, so stay tuned.<\/p>\nAn Important Change: Studio on Hiatus<\/strong><\/h2>\nWe\u2019re putting the Studio program on hiatus for 2026. Subscription fees have been challenging for a lot of people, and we want to make KCU sustainable both for us as a team and for you within the community. We\u2019re working on figuring out how to make it better for all of us.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Sarah Thomas<\/a> and Tzook Har Paz<\/a> (who designed our first-ever Pitchfest poster for 2026) signed with Alice Sutherland-Hawes of Ash Literary<\/li>\n
- Maria Goltseva<\/a> signed with Jen Azantian of Azantian Literary<\/li>\n
- Ally Frame<\/a> signed with Jessica Saint Jean at Root Literary<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/figure>\nThere might be others I don\u2019t know about yet (if you were a Pitchfest participant and have good news to share, please post in the comments!).<\/p>\n
\nIn April, we launched our first-ever Kickstarter, for our first-ever KCU anthology, Let\u2019s Go!<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The anthology included 22 stories by 31 different contributors<\/a>, and a total of 34 people from our Studio program worked on the project. We divided into 4 teams to produce the book: a publication team, editorial team, marketing team, and design team. It took us a year and 10 months to bring it to life. Yes, it was like herding cats, but we did it. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n
Our Kickstarter<\/a> was a big success \u2014 we were funded overnight and almost tripled our goal\u2014which was very, very exciting. As of this fall, we\u2019ve shipped Let\u2019s Go<\/em> to our Kickstarter backers. It\u2019s also available on Amazon now<\/a> (hopefully on Bookshop.org soon). If you got a copy and want to leave us a review, that would be amazing!<\/p>\n
<\/figure>\n
\nIn June, the KCU team\u2014me, Bailey, Lisa, and Jade\u2014had a retreat in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The four of us had never been together in person, so staying in an Airbnb for two nights together was such a blast.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was actually during that retreat, sitting around in the living room and discussing our plans for the fall, that Bailey suggested I teach a course on \u201chow to launch a graphic novel.\u201d As soon as she said it, I was on board with the idea.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/figure>\nDeadlines are great, right? I knew right away that if I say I\u2019m going to teach a course, I will be forced to organize my ideas and put them into a coherent framework.\u00a0Being forced to organize your ideas is always a good thing. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n
We ended up with about 40 wonderful students in the course. Here are a few things students said about it:<\/p>\n
- \n
- \u201cEven if you know what you need to do, this course will get you to do it sooner and with more support, organization and resources!\u201d \u2013 Michelle Lin<\/a><\/li>\n
- \u201cI gained a ton of helpful knowledge and advice. But better yet, I gained new friends to continue this journey together with me.\u201d \u2013 Joy Liu<\/a><\/li>\n
- \u201c[This course] makes marketing seem less like a chore than an opportunity to do what you already like to do \u2014 make stuff and tell stories.\u201d \u2013 Andy Hirsch<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Hooray!! <\/p>\n
And finally, throughout the year in our Studio program, we had amazing guests come talk to us: Chris Duffy, Kazu Kibuishi, Colleen Venable, James Powell, Joe Latham, John Hendrix, Britt Siess, Robyn Chapman, Mika Song, C\u00e9sar Lador, and so many others. It was a jam-packed year, and I\u2019m grateful to everyone who shared their time and expertise with us.<\/p>\n
Celebrating Our Community<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Before we dive into what\u2019s next, I want to give some shoutouts. We\u2019ve never done member awards before, but this felt like the right time to start.<\/p>\n
<\/figure>\nMember of the Year<\/strong> goes to Roger McMullen<\/a>. Roger is always in the community answering people\u2019s questions, sharing great resources and articles, and offering his own perspective. I always read Roger\u2019s comments because he has such interesting things to say. He\u2019s also the founder of our Zine Club group<\/a>, and converted many of us (including me!) into zine fanatics.<\/p>\n
The<\/strong> Put Yourself Out There Award<\/strong> goes to Bob Thibeault<\/a>, who tried some really new things this year. After being a part of the Let\u2019s Go!<\/em> anthology, he did his first solo Kickstarter campaign, and he\u2019s been a role model for all of us in terms of stepping outside your comfort zone.<\/p>\n
The<\/strong> Quiet Hero Award<\/strong> goes to Teresa Robeson<\/a>. Even though she\u2019s a self-proclaimed \u201cshy human,\u201d she is always welcoming new members and cheering people on. Plus, Teresa can raise chickens and can food and survive on the land\u2014when the zombie apocalypse happens, Teresa is the KCU member we\u2019ll turn to.<\/p>\n
At our June retreat, I recognized the KCU team with awards, too, but I want to share them publicly now with everyone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The<\/strong> Quiet Hero 2 Award<\/strong> goes to Lisa Lowry<\/a>, who helps us stay true to our values and works behind the scenes to make sure all the little details get done. If it weren\u2019t for Lisa, everything would fall apart.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The North Star Award<\/strong> goes to Jade Vaughan<\/a>, whose artistry, soulfulness, and sense of humor is a beacon of light to me and I hope to many of you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And the Kicking Butt Award<\/strong> goes to Bailey Culver<\/a>, who brought 1000% more energy and enthusiasm to our team and completely transformed our social media presence.<\/p>\n
I also want to give a shoutout to every single person who\u2019s contributed to our community \u2014 we would not be where we are today without you.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s Coming in 2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Now let\u2019s talk about what we have planned for next year. It\u2019s going to rock, guys.<\/em><\/p>\n
Thank you to Tzook Har-Paz and Sarah Thomas for creating our first-ever KCU Pitchfest custom poster!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n KCU<\/strong> Pitchfest<\/strong><\/a> is coming back!<\/strong> Submissions will open from February 12th to February 23rd. We have about 13 judges confirmed so far, and we\u2019ll announce the full jury in the second half of January. Many of the agents and editors on our jury will be offering one-on-one pitch review sessions again. The Pitchfest celebration event, announcement of winners, and one-on-one pitch reviews will be on April 25th, 2026. Mark your calendar with those dates!<\/p>\n
We\u2019re going to table at conventions<\/strong>. We\u2019re upping our game and getting out into the community, not only to share what KCU does, but also to sell the Let\u2019s Go!<\/em><\/strong> anthology. We\u2019ve been accepted for MoCCA already \u2014 hooray! I\u2019m also going to the Bologna Book Fair, where I\u2019ll be representing both my agency and KCU. We\u2019re thinking about exhibiting at ALA in June and SPX in September. Whatever shows we end up at, we\u2019ll be inviting KCU members to come visit us, and if you were a Let\u2019s Go!<\/em><\/strong> contributor and want to be at our booth for an hour or so, we\u2019ll have signup sheets.<\/p>\n
During the summer, we\u2019re going to offer a graphic novel bootcamp<\/strong>. We don\u2019t have all the details finalized yet, but it will likely be a 3-month course with a finished product that comes out of it. We\u2019re working hard behind the scenes to pull it together. I am very<\/em> excited about it, and can\u2019t wait to share more details soon.<\/p>\n
In the fall, I\u2019m teaching How to Launch Your Graphic Novel<\/a> again<\/strong>. Everyone who was a student this year\u2014thank you for being my guinea pigs! I absolutely loved teaching this course and can\u2019t wait to meet a new cohort of students next year.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll continue offering occasional live online events.<\/strong> Bailey and Alondra are continuing the co-working sessions on Mondays<\/a>, and we might start another co-working session at a different time. We\u2019ll definitely be doing socials and meetups, both online and in person at conventions. Feedback with a Pro was very popular, and we\u2019ll bring that back\u2014it\u2019ll be free for anyone to attend, but if you want to have your work critiqued by the guest agent or editor, you\u2019ll pay for that critique. We\u2019ll sprinkle some workshops and masterclasses throughout the year, so stay tuned.<\/p>\n
An Important Change: Studio on Hiatus<\/strong><\/h2>\n
We\u2019re putting the Studio program on hiatus for 2026. Subscription fees have been challenging for a lot of people, and we want to make KCU sustainable both for us as a team and for you within the community. We\u2019re working on figuring out how to make it better for all of us.<\/p>\n
- \u201cI gained a ton of helpful knowledge and advice. But better yet, I gained new friends to continue this journey together with me.\u201d \u2013 Joy Liu<\/a><\/li>\n
- Maria Goltseva<\/a> signed with Jen Azantian of Azantian Literary<\/li>\n
![\""Every](\"https:\/\/kidscomicsunite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/lynda-barry-comic-connection-quote.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/33bd6aac2f8573eff3a71d037f3f94d18755b976f1e5fd905c1aaa2d5ed96098?s=74&d=mm&r=g\")
\t<\/div>\n